Newbie here again. I've been fishing some small streams around here for sunnies and have noticed that 1. setting the hook via stripping isn't as easy as I figured and 2. I'm getting a lot of slack in the line while fighting these small guys (I guess the word "fight" is a bit misleading ).

If a fish is too small to swim away and in doing so make a tight line it will be extremely hard to retain tension on the fish unless you just unceremoniously drag it to shore. With a fish that is above the minnow size class I like to reel up any slack line as soon as the fish gets hooked. This is way better than pulling all your line in with your free hand and having a pile of line about your feet. When the day comes that you get hooked to a large fish you could have trouble if you develop the habit of piling the line at your feet. When they go running away line will pay off a reel (usually) without incident but line lying at your feet can become tangled and not want to go back out the guides.

Even though you are only catching small fish try to train yourself to put the line & the fish / fight, on your reel. We all are living for the day the big one decides to take our fly and when that day comes Murphy's Law will try to intervene in your success. The more you do to avoid problems before they happen the better.